


The Coming Storm

by TheStoryTellingGuy



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Humor, Not Canon Compliant, Pirates, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 15:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18472087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStoryTellingGuy/pseuds/TheStoryTellingGuy
Summary: One year after the execution of Monkey D. Luffy, the world has settled into a state somewhat resembling peace. Piracy has once again taken an uptick in activity, but not at the same volume as the Great Golden Age, and the world breathes a collective sigh of relief. But just when it seems a state of normalcy is upon the world, an several events take place that shake it to its foundations. This is a telling of those events.-=-=-=-Testing to see how well received this story idea is.





	The Coming Storm

_A New Dawn Breaking_

Passing through the empty, dusk waters, the large vessel, propelled by an early morning breeze, pushed forward through the lapping waves. Rising and falling against the current, the ship ate away the distance to its next destination in Loguetown Harbor. As it travelled, a spot of light appeared upon the horizon opposite its course, indicating the incoming break of dawn.

As the sun rose on the eastern sea, more details on the ship could be made out; large sails marked with several skulls and crossbones, large circular hatches on both sides, and a lion-shaped masthead staring out at the sea ahead. It was the Thousand Sunny, journeying through the sea where the first dawn had broken. And just ahead, the island where the previous dawn’s sun first shone appeared over the horizon: the Polestar Islands, where the city of Loguetown stood.

Circling the island, the ship slowly docked into a quiet cove, far away from the eyes of those who would seek to destroy it. Grating against the shore, the ship slowed to a a stop and a man leaped from the bow, landing with a squelched crunch on the wet sand below. Grabbing the rope he had brought down with him, the man quickly and efficiently tied it to two hooks that had been added to the front hull of the Sunny. Satisfied that they were tight enough, the man heaved the large cords across his shoulders and began to drag the ship until it was firmly beached. Letting the rope slip from his hands to the sand, the man let out a sigh of relief, grinning at what he had accomplished. Calling up to his crew, he said that he was going to go into town to survey the market for supplies. A voice from the deck, one of his sons – he wasn’t sure which – called back for him to be careful. He smirked, thinking that he would be fine.

Making his way to the actual town took him the better part of the morning, so by the time he arrived, the main square was already bustling with activity. People milled around the square, moving from stall to stall searching for anything they were interested in or needed. There were the standard fruits and foods people would find in a market like that, along with one or two pop-up tents for those traveling from one of the other Blues. One stand even sold an assortment of swords, reminding him once again that he needed to find a new swordsman for his crew. But out of all the shops, tents, and stands that stood in the square, one seemed to draw the largest crowd in the square and even those who were shopping elsewhere gravitated towards the mob.

Curious, the man made his way closer to the stand, hearing the various bids go quickly from the single digit millions to the double digits. This just made the man even more curious. _What could people possibly be bidding for that would make them go this crazy?_ , he thought, throwing glances to mob around him. At some point, he realized that some people weren’t even bidding, they were just there to stare at whatever was being auctioned off, a look of awe and wonder painted on their faces. Even more confused and curious than before, he finally managed to push his way to the front of the throng, breaking through the front and getting an eyeful of what had caused the mass panic.

It was a devil fruit. But to the man, it wasn’t just _any_ devil fruit…

“It’s _his_ ,” the man whispered.

Awestruck, the man stared, his mind frozen with amazement. A quick scan of the fruit told him all he needed to know. From the stories his old man had told him, he was able to get a decent description of what the devil fruit looked like, and right in front of him was the perfect match. A perfectly round shape, with wave-like patterns circling the purplish fruit. In that moment, he thought about outright buying the fruit. He knew he could outbid anyone there if he felt like it, he had the money to do it. But just as he was reaching for his coin purse, he stopped himself, realizing where he was.

This was Loguetown, not some place of high morality. Every pirate from the East Blue who wanted to travel to the Grand Line stopped there to get their supplies. Understandably, some stayed behind, realizing that they’d make a better profit extorting and ripping off their once fellow pirates than they ever would sailing the Grand Line. The fact that the first Pirate King was executed there simply made the traffic of pirates worse, thus drawing in even more scammers. He had seen someone pass off a fake devil fruit before, and he also knew what a real devil fruit looked like. He probably knew more about devil fruits than anyone in that crowd, and he knew there was one sure-fire way to tell that a devil fruit was real without eating it. Stepping forward, he was about to voice his claim to the vender when someone behind him said exactly what he had been thinking.

“How do we know you’re not pulling a fast one, old man? You could’ve painted a ball or an odd-shaped apple to look like that and pass it off to one of these idiots for a quick buck.”

Acting as one, the crowd collectively let out a gasp and split down the middle, all trying to get a better look while revealing the speaker to both the man and the vender. The speaker looked to be in either his late twenties or early thirties, wearing longish black hair with a small beard to match. He wore loose clothing of somewhat clashing colors, with a large belt fitted with a holster strapped around his waist. His boots went about halfway up his calf, with his equally loose pants tucked into them. The smile lines around his mouth were prominent.

Turning around, the man was left awestruck for the second time that day. Not only had he discovered the devil fruit that had belonged to Monkey D. Luffy, but he had also found someone else who had the common sense to think with their brains and not their wallets. The crowd around the two men grew quieter almost immediately, with only murmurings of whether or not they’d been duped. Some people even seemed ready to riot over it. The speaker smirked up at the now nervous-looking vender, obviously getting the reaction he wanted, and snapped his fingers, as if he came up with a brilliant solution.

“I know! You should cut the fruit open and show the insides to us so these _good_ _people_ don’t feel like they’ve wasted their time here.”

Almost immediately the crowd followed the speaker’s lead and started yelling up at the vender, calling for the fruit to be cut open. The vender nearly toppled over as the first roar hit him. He was more than happy to comply. Fumbling with a knife as the collective screamed at him, the vender swung the knife and sliced the fruit, a loud _chunk_ going through the air as the knife struck the wood below. Taking the two halves, the vender slowly turned the open halves for the crowd to cast their judgement. The reaction was… mixed, to say the least.

A few in the crowd thought that the swirling patterns in the fruit was the proof the fruit was the real deal, but weren’t sure, most were confused and wondered why they even cut it open in the first place, and a bunch of the people just walked away, thinking that the fruit was unusable now that it had been cut open. There were only two in the crowd who knew that it definitely was a devil fruit: the man and the speaker.

Smirking again, the speaker walked up to the front of the stand and produced a wallet, saying, “You’ve convinced me, old timer. I’ll take it.”

A stir went up through the remaining crowd as they realized that it was in fact a real devil fruit, but before they could start their mass bidding again, the vender spoke up, stating his price. “That’ll be one hundred million beli.”

Once again, the crowd fell silent. A few seconds passed, the awkward silence seeming to fill the square. One by one they began to leave. Most simply put their hands in their pockets and stared at the ground, an air of defeat surrounding them. Others muttered curses under their breaths at the vender, his family, and his cow. A couple, more hopeful than the others, stayed behind, rummaging through their pockets to see if they had a spare hundred million beli lying around. Once again, the two men were the only ones who defiantly remained, prepared to pay the high price for the fruit.

Looking back up to the vender, the speaker cast an arm out to the now empty square, emphasizing that he was one of the only ones left to sell to, and repeated his earlier statement. “I’ll take it.”

The vender, a lot less flustered now that the crowd had dispersed, put on a jovial face, glad that people weren’t about to trample his storefront. Leaning forward against the cart, the vender gave the speaker a curious look, the unfamiliarity evident in his eyes.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here, fella,” the vender said, eyeing the man’s holstered pistol, “D‘ya mind telling me yer name?”

Giving another one of his smirks, the speaker closed his eyes, replying, “Well this is my first time in Loguetown, I doubt anyone here has heard of me,” pausing a little, the man opened his eyes, “The name’s Tacken Gil.”

Smiling again, the vender reached out his hand, responding, “Well Mr. Tacken, if you could be so kind as to produce yer coin, I’d be happy to-”

“Hold it! I’ll pay double for the fruit!”

With a start, Gil and the vender turned from the sale and looked at the man, a little surprised he was still there. The entire time, the man had been left in bewilderment by the constant chain of surprises, starting with Gil calling out the vender and ending with the price of the fruit. In his shocked state, he only managed to think, _If only they knew what fruit that was._ He had only managed to break out of his stupor when he realized the fruit was about to be sold and he was determined to be the buyer. The vender, a little flustered at this sudden occurrence, glanced quickly between the two, looking for any sort of reaction. Gil blinked a few times, as if he was taking his own time to process it. Eventually, though, the vender decided to go where the most profit was.

“So ya say you can pay two hundred million?” the vender asked, leaving the question obviously open-ended. The man simply nodded, unsure in his own words as he began to think.

“Well this might sound a bit rude, but I don’t believe ya!” the vender said, casting his gaze on the man. “I mean, one hundred million is quite a hefty sum, as you know. If Mr. Tacken here’s a pirate – as that gun on his belt screams – I can believe he _might_ have that kind of coin on him. But to be able to so casual-like drop double that… I just don’t believe it.” Leaning forward across the stand, careful to avoid the fruit, the vender asked, a slight tone of annoyance in his voice, “So why don’t you tell me yer name, unless ya don’t have one? Maybe then I can… cooperate.”

The man stood there for a moment, contemplating the words of the vender, deciding on whether or not to tell the truth or to tell a lie. In the end, the man told the truth. And staring into the eyes of the vender, not blinking once the man said, “Monkey D. Ace, the son of the Pirate King.”

Time seemed to stand still for the three men, as they each took this statement in their own ways. Gil had probably the most shocked look out of the three: eyebrows arched, eyes full of surprise, and mouth slightly agape. He was also the quickest to recover. Ace didn’t show it outwardly, but he agonized over the fact that he just revealed his name, something he promised he wouldn’t do unless absolutely necessary. He kept trying to justify it to himself, that it was to win back his father’s fruit, but he knew in his heart of hearts that he had just done it on impulse, that he had done it without thinking. He smiled inwardly, knowing exactly who that sounded like…

The vender simply laughed.

“You expect me to believe, with a name as uncreative as that, that you’re the son of Monkey D. Luffy! Ha! If yer the Pirate King’s son, then I guess that makes me a Celestial Dragon!”

Leaning back in his stool, the vender kept guffawing, mouth wide open for the world to see his wooden teeth. In between laughs and breaths, he would say something along the lines of “Monkey D. Ace” or “Pirate King’s Son”. Turning to Tacken, Ace tried to see if there was any sort of mockery in his face as well. He wasn’t surprised to see that Gil remained expressionless, and the two exchanged a look of understanding. The vender hadn’t been out to sea in so long that he had forgotten how unexpected it could be, and the various rabble that drifted from place to place matched the ocean’s uncertainty.

At this point, the vender had been laughing for a good minute, and he didn’t look like he was slowing down anytime soon. _How could any man laugh at something as stupid as a name for so long_ , Ace thought, subconsciously scratching his head at the matter. Finally, he let out a sigh. Marching forward, Ace pulled from his purse a large wad of beli and set it in front of the vender, who almost immediately shut up.

Ace simply stated, “That’s two hundred million exactly.” Seeing the incredulous look on the vender’s face, Ace added, “And if you don’t believe me, have fun counting that for the next week. That’s a rainy-day fund, so I should know how much is there.”

Gil snorted. Ace turned to him, the question obvious on his face. Gil waived it, saying, “Oh, it’s nothing… I just find it funny that you call two hundred million beli a rainy-day fund.”

Ace let a small smile play across his lips. He had never really thought about the ridiculousness of his money saving habits, and having it suddenly brought to light in such a scenario… he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

Turning once more back to the vender, Ace kept his stare passive, waiting for the vender to make his move. Eventually, the vender came back to his own senses, having finally gotten over the large sum of money just deposited on his counter. Trying to become the suave businessman he was before, he couldn’t help but look shaken as he slicked back what little hair he had left. It wasn’t everyday that you find a devil fruit, almost get trampled by a mob, and get paid more than you ever had in your entire life. “Well then, I guess that’s it then… I mean, I don’t care whether or not yer the son of a King or born from shit, anymore. I’m still gettin’ paid.” And with that, the transaction for the Gum Gum Fruit was finally complete.

Taking the two halves from the vender, Ace carefully wrapped them up in a spare piece of fabric he had in his pocket, his mind full of utter disbelief of what he had done. At some point he lost his train of thought, snapping back to reality once he realized he had covered the fruit in two layers of cloth. Hurriedly thanking the vender, Ace began to set off back for the ship, but not before offering Gil his sympathy.

“Sorry I had to outbid you like that. It’s not everyday a devil fruit sells for that cheap!”

Gil seemed to shake off the financial defeat, physically shaking his head as well. “If that vender knew how much devil fruits could go for in the Grand Line, he would’ve probably had a heart attack.” He smiled, “Congratulations on being rich.”

Giving his own smile, Ace waved goodbye and began his journey back to the Sunny. As he walked, he thought he saw something off about Gil’s smile, but decided to ignore it for now. Once he was out of sight of the people of Loguetown, he slowly brought out the fruit, still over-wrapped in cloth. Part of him wanted to eat the fruit then and there so he could have the power of his father as soon as possible, but he decided to go against this gut feeling. He’d rather show the fruit to his family and crew before he ate it. Giving it one last look, he began moving to put it back in his pocket.

Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, the fruit was snatched from his hands. Ace halted in his tracks as he processed what just happened. As the gears in his head came to a stop, he sprung into action, chasing the assailant in his odd-colored clothing. But before either of them could get far, Ace heard the unmistakeable sound of someone crunching into an apple. Knowing there was no point in continuing the chase, Ace came to a stop. Apparently the thief had a similar idea as they too came to a stop.

Turning to face him, Gil gave Ace one of his smirks. “Well, that was disgusting.”

Raising an eyebrow, Ace asked in jeer, “What? The fruit or what you just did?”

Thinking for a second, Gil shrugged his shoulders, responding, “Kind of both.”

Shaking his head in slight disdain, Ace simply stated, “No honor among thieves, I guess.”

Gil nodded in agreement. “That’s true.” Pulling out his own wad of cash, Gil tossed it to a surprised Ace, who fumbled with it for a bit. “May not be honor, but here’s my condolences. Sorry if it takes you three days to count if I was actually gonna pay the amount that idiot vender put forward.”

Raising another eyebrow, Ace asked Gil once again, but this time in genuine curiosity, “You’re a strange one, aren’t you?”

Shrugging his shoulders again, Gil countered, saying, “Eh. I’m a pirate who steals from people then gives them a hundred million, you’re the son of the Pirate King. Nobody’s perfect.” But then a serious look came onto his face, or at least as serious as he could look. “But I doubt that won’t stop you from wanting to get some kind of revenge. I mean…” He began stretching his fingers, “This is your old man’s fruit, right?”

Despite also putting on a serious look, Ace couldn’t help but smile. “That _is_ true… but I don’t think I could bring myself to kill you.”

Crossing his arms, Gil gave Ace a stern look, like a parent would if their child said something they weren’t supposed to. “Don’t say that! If you kill me, not only do you get revenge for wasting a hundred million beli, but you also get your fruit back!”

Walking up to him, Ace patted him on the shoulder, giving a warm smile. “I guess we’ll see what happens, then,” as he strolled past Gil and towards the direction of his ship.

The next day, the two pirate crews met on the open sea and, as they said they would, did battle. The New Straw Hat Pirates did great damage to Tacken’s ship with the help of the Sunny’s weaponry, but as Monkey D. Ace said he would, Tacken Gil was spared of his life. But on that same day, during that same battle, something happened during what should have been an inconsequential sea duel that would forever change the course of history for decades to come…

Tacken Gil killed the son of Monkey D. Ace.

**Author's Note:**

> If you don’t really care about fanfiction fitting with the canon story, then skip this. If you do, continue reading.  
> I began writing this story towards the end of Whole Cake Island Arc in the anime, so if there is anything that is different from my assumed canon and the actual canon… sorry.  
> To hopefully combat this story not making sense, I want to list a few things that I think would happen in my version of events: Luffy stays the Pirate King for his entire adult life until he’s around sixty (when he’s executed), the World Government is still in power by the end of the series, and the Revolutionary Army is gone. If there is anything specific you think would be a problem, please PM me. Now, enjoy your read.


End file.
